Automatic machine tool



June 29, 1965 M. MORGAN AUTOMATIC MACHINE TOOL Original Filed Dec. 27 1957 RECORD 1 CARD 1'7 Sheets-$heet l ROTATION CONTROL TOOL MATRIX S PINDLE FEED CONTROL SPINDLE SPEED CONTROL WRENCHING MECHANISM CARD READER COUNTER CONTROLLER PULSE GENERATOR PHOTOC ELL VIBRATION PICKUP TABLE COORDTNATE CONTROL IN VEN TOR. MARK MORGAN AGENT June 29, 1965 M. MORGAN Re. 25,812

AUTOMATIC MACHINE TOOL Original Filed Dec. 27, 1957 17 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG--2- June 29, 1965 M. MORGAN Re. 25,812

AUTOMATIC MACHINE TOOL Original Filed Dec. 27, 1957 17 Sheets-Sheet 3 June 29, 1965 M. MORGAN Re. 25,812

AUTOMATIC MACHINE TOOL Original Filed Dec. 27. 1957 1'7 Sheets-Sheet 4 June 29, 1965 M. MORGAN AUTOMATIC MACHINE TOOL Original Filed Dec. 27, 195'? 1'? Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG--5- XL TIN 4' MATR 36-3 SP|ND .E SPEED RAN 3B FEED RAF GE 39-42 DEPTH OF FEED June 29, 1965 M. MORGAN Re. 25,812

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June 29, 1965 MORGAN AUTOMATIC MACHINE TOOL 17 Sheets-Sheet 1 5 O riginal Filed Dec June 29, 1965 MORGAN AUTOMATI C MACHINE TOOL l7 Sheets-Sheet 16 Original Filed Dec. 27 1957 June 29, 1965 M. MORGAN AUTOMATIC MACHINE TOOL l7 Sheets-Sheet 17 Original Filed Dec. 27, 1957 United States Patent 25,812 AUTOMATIC MACHINE TOOL Mark Morgan, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., by Kearney and Trecker Corporation, a corporation of Wisconsin, assignee Original No. 2,901,927, dated Sept. 1, 1959, Ser. No. 705,701, Dec. 27, 1957. Application for reissue Jan. 17, I964, Sci. No. 348,316

31 Claims. (Cl. 77-4) Matter enclosed in heavy brackets appears in the original patent but forms no part of this reissue specification; matter printed in italics indicates the additions made by reissue.

This invention relates to data programmed machinery and in this particular embodiment to a punch card controlled jig boring machine wherein the data from said punched card operates a controller which selects a desired tool for said jig borer, positions the jig borer table to a predetermined coordinate position, selects the correct feed and speed of the spindle and controls the depth of the boring operation to be performed by the selected tool.

In the manufacture of card feed units such as the one used in this invention and in other machinery wherein a large number of holes must be accurately bored, a jig boring machine is utilized to drill or bore these holes with a high degree of accuracy both as to location and to hole diameter. The use of these boring machines requires time consuming and laborious preparation by highly skilled operators which therefore requires both a large outlay in labor and the time of skilled mechanics. In the actual machining of the parts, continuous operator attendance is necessary and the accuracy of the finished part is in a large part dependent on the skill of the operator.

For these reasons a machine tool which has all the attributes of a precision boring machine and yet can be accurately operated with a minimum of skilled supervision is highly desirable for production work.

In boring operations where a large number of holes I of variable depth and diameter are to be performed on a single workpiece, a number of variables are encountered which add to the complexity of the boring operation. Enumerating these variables it can be seen that:

A large number of tools are required for both variable hole diameter and the various operations which are performed by boring tools such as drilling, boring, counter boring, and counter sinking.

The workpiece must be accurately positioned on a coordinate basis in order that the boring operation is performed at the desired location.

Spindle feeds and speeds must be determined for each boring operation.

The depth of boring in the workpiece must be accurately determined in order to insure precision in finished pieces.

The sequence of operations in determining the holes to be bored which involve all other factors enumerated in the preceding paragraphs.

While these variables must be determined for each individual workpiece in any event, it is quite evident that there is one sequence which will result in the completion of a workpiece in a shorter time interval than any other sequence. With present day computers and programming techniques, problems such as sequencing operations can be resolved. Even without the use of computing machinery, the problem of sequence of operations of machine tools is better carried out by persons more familiar with mathematical techniques than operators of the machine concerned.

The present invention is adapted for unit record card control wherein a single record card controls all variable Re. 25,812 Reissueel June 29, 1965 data for each hole. A deck of cards is arranged for each individual type of workpiece and thus form a series of input datum to control the machine throughout its entire operation.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a data programmed machine tool.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a digital data programmed machine tool.

It is another object of this invention to provide a digital data programmed machine tool controlled by punched cards.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a machine tool wherein individual tools may be selected for use in the machine under digital data control.

A further object of this invention is to provide a data reading device operable to disregard all sequential readings of identical data.

Another and further object of this invention is to provide a data programmed jig borer in which all variables of spindle feed and speed are controlled by said data.

Other objects of the invention will be pointed out in the following description and claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which disclose, by way of examples, the principle of the invention and the best mode, which has been contemplated, of applying that principle.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of the instant invention with appended flow chart.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of the wrenching mechanism and the tool storage matrix.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the wrenching mechanism taken along line 33 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a side elevation of the rotating mechanism of the tool matrix with side removed.

FIG. 5 is an isometric view of a tool carried in the tool matrix.

FIG. 6 shows the format for the punched card used in the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic illustration of the card reader.

FIG. 8 shows schematically the gauging rods of the boring machine.

FIG. 9 shows the motor control for spindle feed.

FIGS. 10 through 17 illustrate the electrical circuitry of the present invention.

In providing a general description of the instant invention, reference will be made to FIG. 1 which shows the complete mechanical structure with schematic illustration of all electrical control circuitry and information flow. A more detailed description will be made hereinafter of many of the various units and their mode of operation; so for the present general explanation, a simple statement of function will be made for these.

A record card 10, such as shown in FIG. 6, is utilized to store information for operation of the jig borer with punched holes being provided at various locations which are referable to certain functions and provide magnitudes or values to be assumed by the apparatus which represents these functions. Each card 10 represents the data for one hole location.

With reference to FIG. 6, it can be seen that a punched card such as used in the present invention is divided up into columns and 12 rows. By punching a hole in a selected row and column intersection, an indication is made of both value (row) and variable (column). Rows 12 and 11 are not ordinarily used in this invention since all necessary punchings can be made in rows 0-9. Row 12 and 11, however, could be used if needed.

At present, columns 1 through 49 are used for a variety of purposes in the present invention. Of the columns which have any bearing on the following description, there are:

(1) Columns 1 through l4for comparison of cards against one another to insure that all cards belong in that deck.

(2) Columns 15 through 17sequencc number of card in deck to insure proper sequence of operations in boring operations.

(3) Columns 22 through 27designation of hole location in X coordinate distance to six digits (XX.- XXXX) are provided.

(4) Columns 28 through 33-designation of hole location in Y coordinate distance, six digits (XX.XXXX) are provided.

(5) Columns 34 and 35tool storage matrix location for selection of proper tool for instant boring operation.

(6) Columns 36 and 37spindle speed.

(7) Column 38feed of spindle.

(8) Columns 39 through 42depth of feed.

A card reader 11 such as shown in the patent to Page et al., Patent No. 2,484,114, is utilized to sense the holes punched in the card and also the location of these punchings and transmit this data to a controller 25. FIG. 7 illustrates the card reader which consists of a hopper 15 for storing cards 10 to be read and feeding them one by one to driving rolls 16 which move the cars into a Sensing station 17. On the next card reading cycle, the same card is moved into the next sensing station 18 and the card succeeding this first card is moved into the first sensing station. A card stacker drum 19 receives cards from said second sensing station and moves them to a stacker (not shown) in their proper sequence. Two reading stations are utilized to check data on succeeding cards against each other and the actual boring operation is controlled by the data from the card in the first reading station. This card is referred to as card 2 in subsequent descriptions.

Each sensing station has 960 brushes 20 (12 rows times 80 columns), one for each hole position. The brushes 20 in this invention have been connected together in each column and separate sources of potential have been provided for each column (not shown in FIG. 7) so that each column may be selectively energized at the proper time in the sequence of operations. Directly below each set of brushes is a commutator block 21 containing 966 individual segments each referable to a particular hole location. An output lead is connected from each segment to any desired point. If there is a hole at any coordinate position, a potential will be furnished to that lead when the column in which it is situated is energized.

The controller 25 contains generally all the control circuitry necessary to correlate the information transmitted from card reader 11 with the jig borer apparatus, and to route information from the card reader to the apparatus as needed. The general circuitry for the controller is shown in FIGS. 10 through 16.

A tool storage matrix 27, consisting of a rotatable, laterally movable, circular plate 28 with suitable supporting structure, has notches cut into the periphery thereof for storing a plurality of tools. Electrical signals from the controller 25 determine the position of the rotatable plate 28 with respect to the jig borer 29, both rotationally and laterally, so that a particular tool may be moved in line with the jig borer and then moved laterally to a position beneath the spindle 30 of the jig borer. The details of this unit may be seen in FIGS. 1, 2, 4, and 5.

The jig borer 29 is of the type illustrated in Patent No. 2,674,706 to Knosp et al. The commercial apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1 is different from the patent in a number of respects, and one of these differences is illustrated more particularly in FIG. 8. As illustrated in FIG. 1, a worktable 31 is movable on a coordinate basis to any one of a plurality of discrete positions determined by the information from the controller 25. A feed mechanism 36 is provided for moving the spindle 39 at controlled linear velocities, while a speed mechanism 37 is provided for rotating the spindle 30 at controlled angular velocities. In the present invention, both feed and speed are card controlled.

A wrenching mechanism 38 is provided beneath the throat of the jig borer 29 to accept and tender tools from and to the tool matrix 27 and spindle 30. In this operation. the wrenching mechanism may be thought of as an intermediary in exchanging tools for each subsequent operation requiring a change in tool.

An electronic counter 40 is preset by information from the card and operates to make two measurements of the travel of the spindle 30. These two measurements are controlled by a photocell 41 and light source 42 and a vibration pickup 43. The pulse apparatus 44 is illustrated schematically in FIG. 9.

CYCLE OF OPERATIQN For purposes of illustration of the interrelationship of the various elements shown in FIG. 1, a tool 48 is shown held by the wrenching mechanism 38 with the spindle 30 in a raised position. This situation represents a part of the cycle of operation subsequent to the completion of a boring operation (as described in Step 3 infra) just completed by tool 48. In order to provide an understanding of the present invention, the steps of operation will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

(l) The hole boring operation has been completed and the tool 48, secured in spindle 30, is raised to a position intermediate the fully raised position of spindle 30 and the position of the wrenching mechanism which is open. Another card 10 has now been fed into the card reader 11 upon a signal that the preceding operation has been completed.

(2) The first and second cards are compared for similarities to determine whether it is necessary to change the position of the worktable 31 and/or tool 48. In this instance, it will be assumed that it is necessary to perform both operations and the controller 25 sets up proper circuits to initiate this action.

(3) The spindle feed control 36 is actuated and the spindle 30 is moved down to a position opposite the wrenching mechanism 38 which is open. The wrenching mechanism 33 then closes and grips the tool 48. The speed control 37 is actuated and the spindle rotates in a counterclockwise direction to unscrew the tool 48. The spindle is then raised by means of the feed control 36 to its uppermost position. This is shown in FIG. 1. During this period, the worktable 31 is being positioned to the desired XY coordinate position beneath the spindie 30.

(4) The tool storage matrix plate 28 moves to an in position and the tool 48 is gripped in the tool holding slot from which it originated. The wrenching mechanism 38 opens and the tool 48 is stored in the matrix plate. The matrix plate now rotates to bring the next selected tool 48 in line with the wenching mechanism which closes upon this tool. The tool storage matrix plate 28 moves out leaving the selected tool in the wrenching mechanism.

(5) The spindle 30 moves downward in response to the feed control 36 and rotates by means of the spindle control 37 in a clockwise direction to screw the tool up into itself. After the tool is secured, the wrenching mechanism 38 opens and the tool is free to rotate with the spindle 30. At this time, the worktable should be positioned to the desired X-Y coordinate position beneath the spindle 30.

(6) If the worktable 31 is properly positioned, the spindle 30 and tool begin to move downward. Previous to this time, a predetermined number (manually set) has been entered into the counter 40 indicative of a distance from the photocell 41 toward the workpiece 50..

When the tip of the tool crosses the light beam from light source 42, appropriate circuitry is selected to allow pulses from the pulse generator 51 to be entered into the counter. When the pulses into the counter equal the number present into the counter, the vibration pickup 43 is rendered operative and the depth of the hole, as punched on the record card 1.0, is set into the counter. At this time, no pulses from the pulse generator are being entered into the counter 46. When the pickup 4-3 is ren dered operative, the top of the tool is iia Of an inch, approximately from the workpiece 5!]. This is to prevent spurious vibrations from operating the vibration pickup 43, and is the sole function of the manual setup of the counter 40 which would vary with the thickness of the workpiece.

(7) The tool is rotated and fed toward the workpiece at a predetermined speed. When the tool contacts the workpiece 50, a signal is transmitted to the counter 46 to accept pulses from the pulse generator. The feed and speed of the spindle 30 are set as determined by the holes punched in the card. When the counter 4% is satisfied by the number of pulses, and consequently the depth of the hole, the feed control is tie-energized and the hole is properly bored.

(8) The spindle rotation is terminated and the spindle is fed to a position above the wrenching mechanism 38, and another card is fed into the card reader. This is the beginning of .a new cycle as described in paragraph 1, supra.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Tool storage matrix The tool storage matrix 27 is shown in FIG. 1 and consists in a stand 56 into which is fixed a vertically extending supporting column 57. On the uppermost section of the column is a vertically movable sleeve 58 settable to a predetermined height for alignment with said machine tool. Extending from said sleeve are a pair of ways 59 and 69 secured at their outer ends by a cap 61. On the ways is mounted a slide 62 movable to either a position adjacent the vertical sleeve 58 or adjacent the cap 61. A hydraulic cylinder and piston (not shown) furnishes the motive force for moving the slide to one position or another in response to the introduction of hydraulic pressure either in front of or behind the piston.

Suspended between ways on the slide is the rotational control mechanism 62 for the tool plate 28, see FIG. 4. As shown in this figure, a motor 63 is mounted on top of a housing 65 and has its shaft 64 extending through and journaled in the top wall. A clutch 70 is mounted on a plate 71 supported by said housing 65 and connects motion from a motor shaft clutch disc 72 to a gear 73 carried on a shaft journaled between said support plate 71 and the lower portion of said housing 65. This gear 73 forms a first gear in a series 7376 of reduction gears. The last gear in this series 76 is mounted for rotation about a column 77 fixed from a mounting block 78 on the underside of the top portion of the housing and extending down to a nut 79 fastened on the underside of the matrix bottom plate 97.

Connected to this last gear 76 is a sleeve 84 surrounding the vertical supporting column 77 and journaled in a bearing 85 secured to the top side of the bottom portion of the housing 65. This sleeve 34 extends through the bottom of the housing. through a piece 86 secured to the housing, through a commutator disc 87 fixed to the piece 86 by members 83 and 89, through a rotatable cornmutator disc 91) and supporting structures 91 and 92 fixed to the sleeve, through two partial bearings 93 and 94 to the tool storage plate 28 anchored to the sleeve and to the detent plate 96 supported on a plate fixed by the vertically extending shaft.

The operation is therefore that the sleeve 84, rotatable on the vertically extending column 77, moves the rotatable commutator disc 90, the tool storage plate 2-8 and the detent plate 96. The commutator discs are shown in FIG. 13 with the rings 356 through 360 being mounted on the movable commutator and the brushes being mounted on the fixed commutator 87. These control the rotation of the tool disc 28 by means of a control for the motor 63 to be described in connection with the electrical circuitry.

On the fixed plate 97 secured to the vertically extending column 77 is mounted an electrically controlled air operated solenoid 98 which functions to move a detent 9% into one of the serrations formed in said detent plate 96 corresponding each to an individual tool. This is to insure positive positioning of the tool storage plate 28 with respect to the jig borer spindle which is spaced apart by a spacer 106. The partial bearings 93 and 94 are fixed vertically by members 107 and 108 secured to housing 65 and plate 86, respectively. A dust cover 109 is secured to the plate 86 and housing 65 and surrounds the commutators. The light source 42 is mounted on the underside of the plate 97 and contains a lens assembly 110 for directing a beam of light to- Ward the photocell 41, FIG. 1.

The tool 48, FIGS. 2 and 5, consists of a threaded end 111 for insertion into the spindle of the boring machine. a tapered portion 112 for insuring the transmission of high torque when the tool is firmly secured in the spindie 39, a hexagonally shaped nut 113, a collar 114 directly below said nut 113 and a reduced shaft member 119 terminating in a square block 115. This combination may be machined from one piece or constructed from the elements. A screw 116 threaded in said block has its threads meshing with a threaded block 117 keyed therein for relative movement to establish centering of tool hits 118 to be placed in said last-mentioned blocks 117. The tool bits per se are fastened to the lower block in any desired manner. The tool bit holders 111-117 are utilized in order to obtain a constant distance between the top of the tool storage plate 28 and the threaded portion 111 to be inserted into the spindle 30 since the tools themselves vary in length.

The slots 126 in the storage plate, FIG. 5, have keys 127 secured to the periphery of the slots 126 which slide in the way 119 formed between the collar 114 and square shanks 115 of the tool holder. A stanchion 128 is mounted on said tool storage plate 28 directly behind each slot 126 and has journalcd therein two wiping sections 129 urged by flat springs 130 into engagement. These wiping members are formed to conform to the shape of. the shank 112 of the tool holder and have radially extending fingers 131 containing Chamois 132 for wiping the shank of the tool when it is inserted into the slot 126 for storage.

Wrenchin g mechanism The wrenching mechanism 38 of the present invcntion is fixed beneath the head of the boring machine as shown clearly in FIG. 2, and performs two separate and distinct functions:

(1) To remove or insert a tool into the tool storage plate 28.

(2) To hold the tool for insertion into the spindle 30 or remove the tool from the spindle.

The wrenching mechanism 38 is secured by channel members 137 directly beneath the head of the boring machine 29 in any suitable manner such as by welding. As shown in FIG. 2, a tool 48 is being held by the wrenching mechanism 38 for insertion into the spindle 30 of the boring machine 29. The storage plate 28 is moved to a position removed from the spindle and will not be moved back into operative position until the tool now in the mechanism is to be replaced in the storage plate.

The wrenching mechanism 38 is formed of plates 138 and 139 spaced apart by members 140 secured to these plates by suitable collars 141. Bearings 142 are 

